My trainer contacted me to say that she will not be able to carry on with our gun dog training sessions for a while. Her golden retriever had puppies five weeks ago, and on the 18th day the mother dog suddenly and completely unexpectedly died, leaving my trainer and her husband in charge of six little pups. They had to hand feed them, every two hours, round the clock, and although the pups are now drinking and eating on their own, obviously it has been completely stressful as well as very sad for the owners. I dont know what exactly happened, but thinking back there were complications. The pups were born later than expected, and two of the puppies died. I wonder what could have caused this? Any ideas? This is a very experienced trainer and breeder, who has five other adult golden retrievers in addition to the one who died. They will be keeping one of the pups to remember her by. She is devastated. :'(
Re: Terribly sad news How terribly sad Karen, poor people , the only good aspect is that the pups are past the age of being compltely reliant upon their Mum, but still an awful situation .
Re: Terribly sad news They are now Kate, but they were under three weeks old when the mother dog died. Awful.
Re: Terribly sad news It is very common for one or two puppies to die in a largish litter. The most common cause of sudden death in a recently whelped bitch that I know of is eclampsia (we used to call it 'milk fever') But the breeder would probably be aware if this were the case. It could have been something totally unrelated to the pregnancy of course. Very sad for all concerned, and hand feeding puppies is extremely tiring.
Re: Terribly sad news [quote author=Karen link=topic=1247.msg7909#msg7909 date=1361878156] They are now Kate, but they were under three weeks old when the mother dog died. Awful. [/quote] Sorry Karen , my misunderstanding , that is deardul , poor owners have really had a massive job to undertake and at such a sad time too , tragic x
Re: Terribly sad news [quote author=editor link=topic=1247.msg7910#msg7910 date=1361881921] It is very common for one or two puppies to die in a largish litter. The most common cause of sudden death in a recently whelped bitch that I know of is eclampsia (we used to call it 'milk fever') But the breeder would probably be aware if this were the case. It could have been something totally unrelated to the pregnancy of course. Very sad for all concerned, and hand feeding puppies is extremely tiring. [/quote] Thanks Pippa. I didnt ask her if she knew the cause of death, but will when I next see her. She did say in her email that it was completely unexpected.
Re: Terribly sad news It must be dreadfully upsetting for all. Six puppies to hand rear is quite a burden - they'll be friendly little bodies though. A mineral imbalance, often linked to eclampsia, can be a contributory factor. It's incredibly easy to miss and unfortunately has rapid effects but is not very common anymore.
